“Present rate of warming appears to be at the higher end of the observed 0.15 to 0.20 C warming per decade increase since the mid 1970s. This rate of warming is approximately 30 to 50 times faster than the warming that ended the last ice age.”
The world continues to warm. In the geological context, it is warming very rapidly. Likely more rapidly than at any time in at least the past 200 million years. And as long as this very swift warming trend continues, as long as it is not bent back, it spells serious trouble for the world’s weather, for stable coastlines, for corals, for ocean health, for stable growing seasons and for so, so many more things that we all depend on.
2017 was the second hottest year in the global climate record. It was notable due to the fact that it followed the strong El Nino year of 2016 with ENSO neutral trending toward La Nina conditions. The short term conditions that emerged during 2017 would tend to variably cool the Earth. But the resulting cool-down from 2016 to 2017 was marginal at best — representing about half the counter-trend…
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The Secular Jurist 
One can’t help but wonder how long it will be before “the deniers” finally wake up. Unfortunately, it may be too late …
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There are climatologists who do say privately that it’s probably too late now to avoid catastrophe. When deniers’ homes are destroyed by worsening storms/sea level rise, or when they can’t go outside due to extreme weather, or when they can’t get enough to eat because of food shortages, they’ll begrudgingly admit the obvious.
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I loathe reading reports like this now; I just get so frustrated and saddened by the apathy and ignorance of the mega-greedy and deniers. 😖 As Nan alludes to, once we reach that tipping point and go over… it is done and COMPLETELY and UTTERLY out of humanity’s control.
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It’s very close to being out of our control right now.
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